The Collection by Phuong Dang

Dubai, UAE, March 20, 2018:  Artist Phuong Dang, in collaboration with renowned perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, combines art and science to create a collection of olfactory poems, true works of art, striking in both their originality and their beauty. Inspired by Phuong’s original paintings and perfume concepts, which seek to capture human spirit in liquid form, Bertrand and Phuong together weave exceptionally high concentrations of the most precious raw materials into unique harmonies that can truly transform our feelings and transport us to realms rarely visited by modern perfumery

“To me, scents are the ultimate mysteries that hold not only our reflections  of the past, our moods and feelings in the present, but also our dreams for  the future. Scents burn themselves into our thoughts and can truly transform how we feel.
 
Applying the same artistic sensibility and vision that guided me through my other creative journeys in fashion and fine arts, perfume is another invisible medium that enables me to build presence in abstraction and distill emotion into liquid form, a very powerful way to share the human spirit with others  via the most visceral of senses: the sense of smell.
 
To achieve this dream of mine, I collaborate with some of the world’s best perfumers, combining my original artistic concepts, together with exceptionally high concentrations of the rarest, most precious raw materials, to capture these unique liquid emotions that can touch and inspire you as art does, without need for words.”

Available at Robinsons Department Store.

THE ARTIST/CREATOR

PHUONG DANG, a Vietnam-born artist, uses a common creative language to transform ideas into artistic realities across many different fields: from high fashion to design, to creative direction, to painting, and now to perfumery. Commencing her creative education and career in London as an international makeup artist for high-fashion houses, and as creative director for Elite Model Agency Worldwide, Phuong developed an acute, intuitive understanding of the world of artistic luxury and beauty, before turning her passion towards visual art.  Since receiving her Masters Degree in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths University of London, Phuong’s highly tactile and visually spectacular sculptural paintings have been shown in many exhibitions around the world and are represented in numerous private, corporate and hotel collections. Her latest commission, a large painting for British Airways new lounge, will be revealed at JFK Airport in 2017.

As an extension and reflection of those creative journeys, Phuong has been privately creating scents with her own collections of oils for many years, before choosing to collaborate with some of the world’s best perfumers in creating her own perfume line.  Through these outstanding scents, in her own words ‘Liquid Emotion’, she wishes to share their spirit, to touch and inspire others through the sense of smell, the most instinctive sense of all.

“What I created through this beautiful Phuong Dang perfumes line is the most original and qualitative  I have ever made.  I never worked with such beautiful raw materials in such big quantities before!  I had  to surpass myself and push all my capacities of imagination for expressing in the best efficiently possible way to convey all of their virtues.  It was  a wonderful challenge!”     —BERTRAND DUCHAUFOUR

THE BOTTLE  

The bottle was designed by Phuong Dang with the intention to “convey more with less” by reducing everything down to its essential elements. Each bottle brings a sentiment of truth and expresses the essence of emotion through form, while letting the exceptional scent inside express the soul. Minimal, sculptural, yet filled with contrast between dark and light, movement and stillness, strength and sensuality. The bottles are all hand-blown by a master glassmaker from France.

A SCENT OF VIVID ENERGY

This scent brings excitement and physical energy through the use of a unique kumquat accord - a roughly textured olfactory concept of green - to return us to nature. With ‘Believing’, we can feel the energy from young trees, their green organic matter inside, the smell of fresh cold rain water, the green of spring, all heightened to a thrilling effect.

Kumquat oil does not exist, but it has been created here by combining yusu oil, green mandarin and other citrus notes. Together with a very high concentration of rare champaca flower absolute, it forms a new, sophisticated green floral scent, in which every transition simply makes sense.

A SCENT OF CREATIVE FREEDOM

The task of capturing the complexity and richness of creativity was a difficult one, which resembled nothing else. 
 The uniqueness of this scent lies in its power, clarity and balance, inspired by the rock’n roll spirit of London - a city of true creativity, painted with brilliant architecture, filled with unexpected hidden places. Bold and artistic. Familiar yet unfamiliar. Mysterious and uncategorizable.
The balmy base of musk added to cypress, rum, pink pepper and a blended tobacco accord achieves a still, yet very stylish, salubrious masculine character.

A QUEST FOR WARM HUMANITY

This at once austere and intense scent, eloquently composed from top to bottom, was not merely a challenge to capture human warmth but also to question the viability and capacity of the emotion itself. 

Boldly confident from the very first, and continuing to hold onto that intensity all the way to the drydown which, unusually, shows little evolution on the skin until it simply fades. ‘Craving’ has been composed to transform a bold concept into a deceptively complex, balanced structure that persists on the skin.

A QUEST OF LIFE,  ITS  VIBRATIONS  AND EVAPORATIONS

This elegant composition converges toward a surreal and startling feeling where its character is not only about dynamic strength but also compelling style, which together linger as if you were smelling it on your clothes days later.

A homage to the oud and animalic aphrodisiac notes, this mysterious fragrance was built around a sophisticated and dynamic purple rose made of Turkish and Bulgaria rose absolute together with an original rose accord of natural compounds and mineral accents, which further enhance the mystery of this purple flower.

A QUEST FOR WARM HUMANITY

This at once austere and intense scent, eloquently composed from top to bottom, was not merely a challenge to capture human warmth but also to question the viability and capacity of the emotion itself. 

Boldly confident from the very first, and continuing to hold onto that intensity all the way to the drydown which, unusually, shows little evolution on the skin until it simply fades. ‘Craving’ has been composed to transform a bold concept into a deceptively complex, balanced structure that persists on the skin.

A SCENT  TO REVEAL THE STRENGTH OF FRAGILITY

This intricate, beguiling, yet very abstract scent focuses on the rose petals, the dewdrops and the dust, which together form an irresistible beauty that totally ignores time. It is a work with beautiful views from every angle that pushes us into an unfamiliar space and smells as if it were made tomorrow. 

Rare champagne and artichoke effects in the top notes amplify all the facets of the rose petals themselves, while at the same time giving the scent an abstract feel to those who can discover it.

A SCENT OF  WANDERING, OF DISCOVERING

The innovative three-dimensional structure of this oud scent links every note together and suspends them in a state of equilibrium, where every part and the whole move within the same space.

It seduces you to lean in and listen to its inner voice, an unexpected oud accord built on a vertical opoponax structure reinforced by unique fig milk effect, all enveloped within a huge spice bouquet that covers the whole arc from the top note to the drydown.

A DEEP DESIRE TO BE MORE

Glistening with a liquid quality, this scent was built around a concept of an imaginary white flower, hovering between a pure, dreamlike notion and its presence as a real-world object. Its enveloping calmness creates a presence in space where time seems suspended.

Frozen red pepper together with crystal lily of the valley and a touch of an abstract white flower accord generate depth in transparency for the scent, with tremendous radiance.

A SCENT PAINTED BY HUMAN STRENGTH OVER CHALLENGE AND CHANGE

This hypnotic scent conveys multiple narratives with a presence of power, while retaining a clear grace and elegance. Together they create tension and a complex confidence that evolves from scene to scene, diffused with 
 entrancing complexity. 

An innovative, harmonious scent structure based on the strong resonance between oud’s earthbound tendencies and the hypnotic narcissus absolute, allows them to coexist throughout all intermediate stages of its development, which creates the scent’s originality and beauty.

A SCENT OF UTMOST ELEGANCE AND INTELLIGENCE

A work where opulent beauty, unspoken glamour and deep intelligence, seamlessly merge. Its beauty retains all the visceral referential power of the past yet refines it into a more modern, ambiguous form. 

An exotic floral leather scent, very carnal and sophisticated, composed by a rich flower bouquet, a velvety leather effect and a chypre truffle accord, which together lend a mysterious feel to the scent. Luscious, complex and beautiful.